DK Noir
by Kharl the Renkin Wizard
Summary: The lives of two thieves, cops, a vigilante, a fortuneteller, and several others crisscross in this story of crime, revenge, and such. The new chapter deals with Rath.
1. Chapter 1

_Author's Note: I got the idea for this fic while re-reading the DK mangas I owned. For basic continuity, I am going to make all of the characters human. I do not own Dragon Knights. Okay, I tried to get the characters down. Tell me in a nice way if the character designs aren't true to the original story._

**Chapter 1: Kitchel and Thatz**

Rain poured down heavily, making strange blue-grey puddles on the cracked concrete below. A strange black shadow floated out of the window of a bleakly lit apartment. It made its way down the steel ladders and passed through the alleys, getting drenched with rain. He took off his black mask and tossed it in a nearby dumpster. He had just gotten away with over a thousand dollars cash and was trying to get back home without looking suspicious. He had gotten half way down the street when he heard police sirens. His heart jumped up into his throat. Had he gotten caught? The cherry tops passed him by in a flash. The man calmed down. That was okay. He had not gotten caught. The man kept walking down the street, now a little more content with the fact that he had not gotten caught. He shivered a bit before turning the corner. He was almost home.

"Hands in the air and turn around slowly." A voice said from behind him. He heard the sound of a gun being cocked. So he did as the voice demanded.

"Is there a problem officer?" He asked him.

"You are under arrest."

"Might I ask what for?"

"Theft. You're wanted all across the state for grand larceny."

"Well it looks like you caught me. I'll go quietly. I promise."

With all that said, the officer handcuffed the man and lead him to the back of the patrol car. The thief looked like he was happy as the cop drove off. He couldn't help but notice something about the officer. He had long blonde hair and fair skin. He looked like he did not belong in the police force. The thief crossed his legs and waited until the inevitable happened.

"So, Thatz, how does it feel getting picked up by the most inexperienced cop on the force?" The officer asked with content.

"Caught? No, you just gave me a ride down the block." Thatz told him.

"Oh? I don't think so. You're going away for a little while."

"You really are a rookie."

Kitchel waited quietly in the rain for Thatz to show up at the street corner. They were going to get the money and pay off her boss so she can get back to her one true calling. Theft. However, she failed to realize that he got arrested. A patrol car crawled towards the corner she was on and at once she saw Thatz behind the glass. She ran up to the car and tapped on the driver's side window. The cop rolled down the window to a hysterical young woman.

"Sir sir sir! Please! Oh my god oh my god! The-the-the alley!" She cried.

"All right ma'am I've got it!" He said enthusiastically. He got out of the car and pulled out his standard issue handgun. He ran down into the alley and suddenly, without warning, he heard a screech of tires.

Kitchel drove off to the part of the city that no cop ever went to. It was called Arinas and that was where all forms of low-lives called home. Thatz smiled broadly. He knew she had not lost her touch, but he figured that in the unfortunate line of work she was in that she had to do things she didn't like. After leaving like that, she had no choice but to pick up that unfortunate occupation. But Thatz had come back and that made all the difference.

The rain had stopped, leaving nothing but a cold fuchsia hue in the sky and luminescent puddles scattered across the concrete. The two stopped above a large drop and they got out of the car. Kitchel put the car in reverse; right off the cliff. The car went out with a quick puff of smoke and fire, but there was no real explosion. People tend to believe the myth that cars explode, but really they just catch fire. Then they walked back towards the inner sanctum of Arinas. The two had to visit a man named, Nadil.

All of the money was spread out across a strange wooden crate. Nadil smiled malevolently and then waved his hand. Two of his subordinates came and escorted the two out. Kitchel was free to do whatever she wanted and this pleased both her and Thatz. She pulled herself closer to him as the two began walking down the street.

"Fedelta, I have a job for you." Nadil called silkily. Fedelta stepped from the shadows with his hand cannon at his side. "Kill the two that just walked out. They should be near the edge of Arinas Perch."

"Yes, m' lord." And he walked out into the neon lit city, ready to hunt down the two thieves, Kitchel and Thatz. He was only ready to deal with the necessary things.

Kitchel held onto Thatz's hand as the two looked over the edge of Arinas Perch. It was a beautiful sight to see before leaving that horrid place. The lights could be seen all across the city from there. From there you could hardly tell how bad that place had gotten. Everything was as perfect as could be. Kitchel and Thatz had their whole lives ahead of them. And that was everything they could ever want.

Fedelta walked up to the area slowly, hand cannon firmly grasped. He saw them and sharpened his gaze. He moved with little stealth. The two were unarmed and could do nothing to stop him. Fedelta raised his cannon and fired. With a sharp splatter, Kitchel fell to the ground. Blood was flowing all over the place uncontrollably. Thatz fell to the ground to try and stop the bleeding, but when he got onto his knees he felt the barrel of the hand cannon on his skull. Thatz shivered as tears rolled down his face. And then there was a loud bang and the sound of flesh tearing.

Fedelta slumped onto the ground with a muffled crack. The cop from before found his way to Arinas Perch in search of Thatz and Kitchel. Instead, he found Kitchel shot and the convicted felon, Fedelta. He looked at Thatz in horror as he saw that he was clutching Kitchel. She was barely holding onto life, but if they tried, they could get her to a hospital in time.

"Get her in the car." He told Thatz, pointing to a beaten up station wagon. Thatz picked her up and put her in the back seat. He placed her head on his lap and watched as the officer put a cherry on top of the roof of the car and sped off. It took less than ten minutes to get there with the cherry going off. Thatz owed this man a lot. They got into ER and the people got her in as soon as they could.

Thatz sat down horrified. He should have known better than to trust Nadil. He must have been planning this whole thing from the start. The officer sat down beside him and handed him a Coke.

"Here. Drink this. It will help a bit."

"This is all my fault." Thatz told him. "If I had not have left she would have never gotten into any of this mess."

"What do you mean?"

"The man responsible for all of this goes by the name, Nadil."

"Nadil? The guy who's running for the Senate?"

"Maybe. He's a ruthless person. He was using her and to get her out of the business I had to steal from decent people. When we finally paid him, he sent that guy after us, and she got shot." Thatz said before bursting into a fit of tears. "Now I'm going to have to go to jail."

"No, I'm not on duty right now." The officer said. "So you're not my problem."

Thatz looked up at him and smiled. He held out his hand and the officer promptly shook it. He was a nice guy after all.

"I'm Thatz."

"Rune." Said the officer. "And I promise, we'll get the son of a bitch that caused this."

"Good luck. Most of your officers work for him anyway. Corruption runs deep. You might as well just drop this. Otherwise you might wind up on the bottom of Arinas Perch." Thatz told him.

"I think I'll take my chances."

Thatz smiled and then looked over to his bottle of Coke. He was going to get Nadil back for this. He was going to pull of the biggest heist this city had ever seen. And he and Kitchel could leave this horrible place and move somewhere nice. He realized that he could use the officer to his advantage.

"There's only one officer you can trust."

"Who might that be?"

"His name is Tetheus."

"I got it."

Rune got up and walked out. He had to go find Tetheus and ask him for help. Thatz watched him leave and sighed. He desperately needed Kitchel to survive. But he was going to get Nadil back for this. Even if it costs his life.

_Author's Note: So how did I do? This whole story is going to have crisscrossing subplots and such. I figured Rune and Tetheus were the best candidates for cops and Nadil was the best one for the crime lord. So all I want to know is what you think? Can any improvements be made?_


	2. Chapter 2

_Author's Note: This fic is going to be similar to the manga in terms of each chapter is focused on someone else. This one is Rath and Cesia. _

**Chapter 2: Vigilant**

The rain poured down from the cold, concrete sky. Puddles formed everywhere; rippling every time someone stepped in one. Several members of the police department's "Special Weapons and Tactics" group swarmed an abandoned apartment building. Their orders were shoot to kill. The person they were after was on the top of the most wanted list. This man killed several people after getting out of the military. Many of the swat members were shaking frantically; they had heard several stories about this man. Some say, he killed over a thousand people will serving in the armed forces. Others say that he ate the people he murdered. So they were all scared of what would happen. All of them were heavily armored, but this guy was a professional killer.

They got their orders from an officer named Shydeman. All of them were to move out now. A large group began to move to the entrance when they saw a woman walk out. She smiled at them and gave a quick wave before moving out of sight. The swat team stormed the building; a group of six men took a different floor out of a 13 floor building. Back up was waiting outside if they needed it. The first floor was clear of all life. It was eerie in a way. They checked every floor; the only one left was number thirteen. The group that was supposed to take a look at that floor called for the others. Thirteen is an unlucky number after all. Once the whole swat team that had entered the building got to the thirteenth floor, they investigated. One of the men sighed with relief when they didn't find anything. He had not wished to die. They were all about to leave when the power got cut off.

"Sir, the power is out. Send someone to fix the grid pronto." The commanding officer of the team said to Shydeman.

"We're already on it. In the meantime keep your guard up."

All was silent for a long time. The power still wasn't on. Then there was a quick flash of lightning. The quick luminance revealed that they were not alone. All the saw was a white figure and a large, menacing sword. There was another lightning strike, but the figure was gone. The same officer sighed with relief. They were all so jumpy. It was nothing.

The swat team began to go for the stairs. There was no use in standing still. The commander of the group headed them towards the first flight of stairs. Another crash of lightning and the leader was propped up against the wall; his legs were half way down the stairs. Blood splattered everywhere and a sharp gleaming came from the stair well.

Terror struck the team. Several of them tried to get down the stairs, only to find themselves in pieces. Arms and legs were torn asunder. Crimson stained their black uniforms as the rest of them got ripped apart. The poor folks had no chance in hell of coming out of there alive.

"P-p-please, no, oh god no, I-I-I have a wife and kids, please don't do this!" One said before his impending doom.

"I guess it's abad day to be a good guy." He said, before many quick killing strokes.

Shydeman decided to move the rest of the swat team that had been held for back up, inside. They used smoke bombs, flash grenades, frag grenades, and other weaponry to try and take down this man. Each one fell. One of them hit a trip wire, which was rigged to a large quantity of C-4, causing the building to collapse on top of them. The police moved out. The press had a nice little field day with the fiasco. To make matters worse, they didn't catch the guy. They would always remember this day as the day they almost got entirely wiped out by Rath Illuser.

After that happened, the police pretty much left his case alone. There was no way they would risk losing that many people again. However, Shydeman tries to keep close tabs on him. Just in case.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXx

Cesia sat down at the bar where a man named Gil worked. They were close enough friends, and thanks to her connections, most of the violence stayed outside of his bar. She sat back on her stool and sighed. He still had not shown up. The guy was always late. Gil dropped off her usual drink and went back to washing glasses. Cesia sipped a little from her glass and kept leaning backwards. She eventually lost balance and landed on the floor with a muffled thud.

Rath walked into the bar with a cold look on his face and a drenched figure. It was still raining heavily. He noticed Cesia fall to the floor and found himself moving in that direction. He helped her to her feet and picked up the stool.

"You're late." She said bemused.

"So? I'm always late when it comes to you." He responded. Cesia frowned and gave him a good hard smack. Rath sighed and sat down at the bar. "I'm not entirely sure I deserved that."

"You're not entirely sure about anything anymore." Cesia told him. This was an odd ritual. They would show up at the bar, exchange basic insults, perhaps get violent, and then they would go on their merry way. The two would do this every day if the circumstances allowed it.

"I'm entirely sure that your mouth is just as big as your ass. Only one makes more noise." Cesia hit him again. "I'll admit that I deserved that one."

"You can't cook." She retorted.

" I'm having a hard time finding your point." He responded anxiously. Gil brought the two a large bottle of liquor and they began to drink. Cesia got most of the alcohol. Rath was drunk by the first glass.

"You hold your liquor like a pussy." Cesia said, hoping that this remark would get to him.

"Ahem, you have a fat ass and a flat chest." Was his response.

The two continued along this fashion for about another hour before they decided to leave. It was already getting late. Rath and Cesia helped each up as the two walked down the street.

"Where do you sleep at night, Rath?" Cesia asked.

"Between pretty women."

"No, I'm being serious. Your home was destroyed and I'm just worried." She said earnestly.

"Under an overpass. The hookers and junkies are nice. We swap stories about hardship and such."

"It's hard to see you as a homeless person..." She said calmly before staring down at the sidewalk.

"Sarcasm aside, I do believe that it is all right. It is the balance of nature I suppose. Occasionally I'll stay overnight at Kharl's bookstore." Rath continued.

"Come stay with me." Cesia demanded.

"Only for tonight. I think I'd get robbed while this drunk."

"Yeah."

XxXxXxXxXx

"Shydeman. I have a job for you."

"Yes, Nadil."

"Find Kirikulus. I need him to force our friend out of hiding."

"Why? You saw what he did."

"He uses fear and darkness as weapons. If you pull him into the light, he loses the power of those two. Once he is out of hiding, he will be too weak to resist us."

"And if he does?"

"Kill him. He's of no use if he won't help."

"We might as well have Kirikulus kill him. He won't join us."

Nadil picked up a picture and threw it at him. It was of Rath and Cesia enjoying some ice cream at a local zoo.

"Take away the only thing he has and he'll come running."

"Taking the girl is a death sentence. It is almost as if you want me dead."

"If you don't do it I will make sure you are dead."

"Yes sir."

XxXxXxXxXxXx

Rath rolled over, away from Cesia's naked frame, and sighed. That must have been what she was after. Cesia was sleeping soundly, clutching a pillow closely. Rath got up and got dressed. As soon as he got everything, he walked out of the finely furnished apartment. He began to find his way towards his current place of employment, Kharl's Bookstore. He personally had no real liking of the owner, but he was nice enough. Kharl even helped him out with his other job. It was around nine a.m. when he got there. Garfakcy had already opened up for the day and would probably get angry about him being late.

Rath walked in and found his way to the coffee shop portion of the store. He found Garfakcy manning the area and sighed.

"One coffee. You know how I like it."

"Late again! Just wait until Kharl hears about this!"

"Ow...please stop yelling. I had a rough night."

"You need to stop drinking and start thinking!"

"Look you annoying little gnome, I am hungover and I need coffee. So ring up the damn drink before I pour scalding hot cappucino down your gullet!"

Garfakcy reluctantly rang up the coffee and Rath paid him. He drank his coffee rapidly before starting his work at the cash register. Not too many people came to a bookstore for entertainment. They had television, prostitutes, and drugs for that sort of thing. He sighed and began flipping through a gentleman's magazine. The whole thing seemed somewhat deplorable to him, but he couldn't help himself. Rath reminded himself of what happened last night and got a quick smile. He figured that Cesia would blame the liquor for what happened. It wouldn't surprise him; that's what he would do. So he stood at the register for another eight hour work day, bored out of his mind.

Kharl walked into the store at around five, right when Rath was about to call it quits for the day, and moved over to him. He slipped a Colt .45 and a smoke grenade under the counter. Then he slid a freshly taken photo to him. When Rath saw it he dropped it and went out. He recognized the area and knew exactly where to find this person. Kharl bent over and picked up the picture. It was a photograph of Cesia bound and gagged with a gun to her head. "Pity. I liked her too."

XxXxXxXxXxXx

Kirikulus sat on a patch of rubble leftover from the "incident" with a gun pointed in Cesia's general direction. He wondered how Cesia could be so calm about her capture. It was only a matter of time before he could kill her. He just had to take out Rath first. He figured it wouldn't take too long. It was getting close to sundown when Rath showed up. Kirikulus smiled and walked over to him. Rath held out his hands to show he was unarmed. Kirikulus held out the gun, and when he did Rath set off the smoke grenade. A thick grey miasma covered the area.

Kirikulus felt a thick metal object crash into his knee caps. They shattered under the pressure and he fell to the ground. When the smoke cleared, he saw Rath standing over him with the magnum pointed at his head. Kirikulus laughed out loud and got ready for the inevitable.

"If you kill me, there will be somebody to take my place." He told Rath reluctantly.

"Victims, aren't we all?" Rath said before pulling the trigger. Bone and blood splattered all over the place. Rath would have thought that he scared Cesia, but she barely flinched. She had seen this type of execution before. It was hard not to find this as easy to take.

Rath took off Cesia's bindings and helped her out of the chair. He was glad that she wasn't harmed.

"I hope you don't expect a repeat of what happened last night." She said bemused. "And you stole that line from a movie!"

"Why would I? You're horrible at that." Rath replied with a smile. "Yeah, I'm bad at those catch phrases."The two began to laugh and went back to Gil's bar. Rath began to stay at Cesia's apartment more often. That incident was over, but there would be more violence to come.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXx

"What did I tell you?"

"We'll just get him some other way."

"I think Kharl might be helping him."

"It seems like that."

"What should we do about Tetheus?"

"Leave him be. He's not a threat."

"And what about the cop that shot Fedelta?"

"Fedelta will take care of that himself."

XxXxXxXxXxXxXx

_Author's Note: So what did you think? Not as emotionally exciting as the last chapter, but I tried to be longer and slightly more violent._


End file.
